Russian attack on corn ship off Ukraine’s Odesa kills 10
By Anna Pruchnicka and Iryna Nazarchuk
ODESA, Ukraine July 20 (Reuters) – 10 people were killed in a Russian missile attack on a ship carrying corn near Ukraine’s southern port of Odesa, Ukrainian officials said on Monday, in the deadliest attack in weeks of violence in the Black Sea.
He wrote on the Telegram messaging application of the Ukrainian navy that Russia hit the Guinea-Bissau-flagged Golden Leo ship, which had a crew from India and Syria, with three cruise missiles on Sunday, causing a fire.
A Reuters witness in Odessa saw smoke billowing from a ship off the coast on Sunday, which Reuters confirmed was the Golden Lion.
Ukraine’s port authority said the search and rescue operation lasted all night, adding that nine crew members and a sailor pilot were killed. It was stated that eight of the ship’s 17 crew were rescued.
According to LSEG data, Golden Leo is owned by Mumbai-based Ocean Grace Shipping Ltd. Its manager, Friends Shipping Co SA, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
No public statement was made from Moscow regarding the incident.
UKRAINE AND RUSSIA ACCELERATED STRIKE ON IMPORTANT MARITIME ROUTES
The Black Sea was a flashpoint in Ukraine’s war in the months following Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in 2022. But shipping had largely resumed under an agreement aimed at easing global price shocks and allowing both countries to ship grain.
But Moscow and Kiev are now increasing their attacks in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, targeting important sources of revenue.
Ukrainian forces are hitting Russia’s energy infrastructure, including oil tankers, while Russia is intensifying its attacks on Ukraine’s deep-water ports and cargo ships.
Russia’s defense ministry said on Monday that its forces hit fuel depots in the port of Odessa overnight, Interfax reported.
Russian attacks have killed 28 people in the Odesa region so far this month, the governor said Monday.
Both Russia and Ukraine are major exporters of grain, and renewed violence along this route has raised concerns about supply.
Ukraine, which accounted for about 6 percent of global wheat exports and about 11 percent of global corn exports in recent seasons, has lost about a third of its capacity to export grain through Black Sea ports due to Russia’s missile and drone attacks, traders and analysts said.
The Ukrainian attacks have forced Russia, the world’s largest grain exporter, to limit shipping in the Sea of Azov, which handles about a quarter of its grain exports, sources told Reuters.
(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka, Vinaya K; Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Jason Neely)
